Wednesday, December 03, 2014

Eric Garner joins Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Oscar Grant...

So it seems that even when there is videotape evidence, and even when a large black man cannot be seen as a threat to a police officer because he is on the ground in a chokehold, the grand jury still isn't going to indict the police officer for killing him.

The decision in Staten Island not to indict Officer Daniel Pantaleo threatened to add to the tensions that have simmered in the city since the July 17 death of Eric Garner -- a case that sparked outrage and drew comparisons to the fatal police shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.

Jonathan Moore, an attorney for Garner's family, said he was told of the grand jury's decision.

"I am actually astonished based on the evidence of the video tape, and the medical examiner, that this grand jury at this time wouldn't indict for anything, is really just astonishing," Moore said.

'Astonishing' might not be the first word on the minds of many others this afternoon.

The grand jury could have considered a range of charges, from murder to a lesser offense such as reckless endangerment.

A video shot by an onlooker and widely viewed on the Internet showed the 43-year-old Garner telling a group of police officers to leave him alone as they tried to arrest him.

Pantaleo responded by wrapping his arm around Garner's neck in an apparent chokehold, which is banned under NYPD policy. The heavyset Garner, who had asthma, was heard repeatedly gasping, "I can't breathe!" A second video surfaced that showed police and paramedics appearing to make no effort to revive Garner while he lay motionless on the ground. He later died at a hospital.

The medical examiner ruled Garner's death a homicide and found that a chokehold contributed to it. A forensic pathologist hired by Garner's family, Dr. Michael Baden, agreed with those findings, saying there was hemorrhaging on Garner's neck indicative of neck compressions.

As usual, the cops are making excuses.

Police union officials and Pantaleo's lawyer have argued that the officer used a takedown move taught by the police department, not a chokehold, because he was resisting arrest and that Garner's poor health was the main reason he died.

While details on the grand jurors were not disclosed, Staten Island is the most politically conservative of the city's five boroughs and home to many police and firefighters. The panel began hearing evidence in late September, including the video, autopsy results and testimony by Pantaleo.

Same old story, same old result. A black man is dead under questionable circumstances at the hands of a white cop, and the mostly white criminal justice system failed the black man's family once more.